The task force reviewed a series of strategic planning process documents and selected a ten-step process presented by John M. Bryson in his publication Strategic planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations: A Guide to Strengthening and Sustaining Organizational Achievement.
 

John M. Bryson, Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations:  A Guide to Strengthening and Sustaining Organizational Achievement, rev. ed. (San Francisco:  Jossey-Bass, 1995), 21-44.
 

Bryson states that the ten steps "should lead to action, results and evaluation."

Bryson, 23.

The numbers are links to the purpose of and approaches to the step.  The linked words are definitions and evaluation criteria.
 

1. Initiate and agree upon a strategic planning process.

2. Identify organizational mandates.

3. Clarify organizational mission and values.

4. Assess the organization's external and internal environments to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

5. Identify the strategic issues facing the organization.

6. Formulate strategies to manage these issues.

7. Review and adopt the strategic plan or plans.

8. Establish an effective organizational vision.

9. Develop an effective implementation process.

10. Reassess strategies and the strategic planning process.